Yesterday I bought a 97 Grand Prix GT. The car has 180,000 miles and is really rough. It looks like it's all there, but did not start. The battery was dead so I don't know if it will kick or not. Doesn't matter because the purpose is to mod it and see what's happens. I gave $350 for it.
It's is hard for me to mod a car I have to depend on as a daily driver. Now if I play with some pcm reprogramming and burn a hole in a piston, I am not walking to work. For me work is 100 miles round trip. With this car I will not be afraid to try somethings.
This is where you guy's come in, I can use some ideas on what to do. The purpose of the thread is not as much to explain how to do them, there are enough threads here for that, this is more what stages does it make sense. Kind of like reality TV, this will be a reality thread and you get to help make decisions So I will need to set some parameters so we know what is realistic and what is not. Thats not to say there won't be dreaming. I already googled "what it would take to make a convertible". And before all you nea sayers, remember just a dream, thinking out loud, and check out this picture (http://new.clubgp.com/gpg99/990916-14.jpg). When we start a phase of the project we can post it in the appropriate section and link to it. Remember this is more about the process of getting there, some idea of what a "kind of a car guy" can do. I can not afford a show car and if I could I am not sure 97 GP would be a good choice. This will be a good test bed for trying things.
I don't have a lot of money and I have one more semester to finish a degree. I know college at 53, it has nothing to do with making more money, it will not matter in my job, but it is kind of a bucket list thing. So after this summer time will be an issue. I also do season tickets for OSU, so some saturdays during football season may not be available.I am an IT guy, so this kind of stuff is my stress reliever. I do have a garage, but most of it will be driveway/back porch work. I do not want to leave the Mustang or GXP out over night. It's been over 5 years since the Mustang has even seen a drop of rain. I think one of the biggest thing we will work out is of to fly this under the wife's radar. I am going to set a budget of $100 a month, doesn't mean can't ask for some things for fathers day, birthday, anniversary, and such.
So, lets get started ...
The lady that selling it did not have the title notarized last night, we are meeting after work (6/14/2013). My friend is meeting me in OKC to drag it the 45 miles home. It will cost me a steak dinner at Ken's. I will update the cost list once I know how much. Once I get it home I will post some pictures. My retired driver is on 02 GP SE, body is straight and good shape, just has a noise that I thought was a lifter, but now I starting to think piston slap. Anyway going to send it to the auction so I can borrow what will fit. I know I want the wheels and tires. If the headlights fit, they are new. If the tail light fits, the 97 has a crack one. The interior is different color so even if it fits not sure what I can use.
97 Grand Prix Project Car Photos by penright | Photobucket
Cost List Running Total: $853
Cost of Car $350
Cost of getting it home (Ken's Steak House) $80
Shift Cable $5
Window Motor $10
Carpet $10 (Rough will see how it cleans up)
Alarm $5 (see if I can get fobs for it)
Title Transfer/Registration for 2014 $107 (Should I count it as part of the project?)
Crank Position Sensor $33
Passenger side Taillight $20
Sway bar links $5
Thermostat and Gasket $6
4 ($10 a piece) rotors $40
Deck lid latch $10
Both Door panels, spare tire cover, steering wheel cover, driver side, dash @ floorboard, all $15
headliner cloth and glue $20
V/C Gaskets $14
2 Red Flasher LED, 2 yellow LED for rear view mirror mods $20
4 LED door step courtesy laser projector Shadow lamp lights $13 (since this is a coupe not sure what to do with other 2) :-)
2 NEW Front Left & Right Wheel Hub and Bearing Assembly $60
2 NEW Outer Tie Rod Ends $18
1 Sway Bar $12
